4 Answers
4

I think that the main intended purpose for the current design is to 'add new contacts'. Thus, groups are represented in a compact manner.

You are focusing on the 'manage' task instead, which is a different purpose.

In the long term you probably will know which is the purpose of each circle and only need to classify new contacts and not to change contacts from group to group (maybe some co-workers can turn into friends). In any case only time will tell which purpose is the most common.

The concept of circles is strong. The icon for circles is strong. It should stay circular to be consistent.

Having said that, I also think there is much room for improvement. What if upon hovering over the desired circle, it could trigger a fly-out, like how they do now, but the fully scrollable list like this: